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In standard accounts of language policy and language planning, language users are too often viewed as the 'passive receivers' of linguistic decisions taken at the highest levels of state organization. In defiance of this tendency, the present and 2nd International MIDP Symposium wants to accentuate that subalternity involves, rather than excludes, agency. Through their everyday language practices and their discursive perceptions and interpretations of linguistic realities, those who are supposed to 'live' the language policies never submissively 'implement' them, but, appropriating them, steer them in novel, unforeseen directions. It is these dialectic processes of interaction between what is designed from above and how it is responded to from below which give shape to societies' overall patterns of multilingualism.

The Symposium organisers invite papers which aim at shedding light on these dialectical processes, or to component aspects of it, from a large variety of perspectives and without restrictions as to areal scope. Some key questions related to the theme, Multilingualism from Below, include:

- How are language policies experienced by language users? - How are they responded and reacted to? - How and why do certain language policies 'work' whilst others don't? - How do top-down language policy processes respond to sociolinguistic realities? - How 'useful' are language policies in empowering people and improving their lives? - How do language users' actions produce and reproduce, from the bottom up, larger sociolinguistic structures and patterns of multilingualism, both in time and in space?

Keynote speakers are Durk Gorter, Sinfree Makoni and Elana Shohamy.

Abstracts should arrive at mfbua.ac.be by 27 February 2009. They should be in MS Word format (use PDF only if absolutely necessary for font rendition) and not exceed 250 words. The choice of language at this Symposium for each presentation is free. Unfortunately, given budgetary restrictions there will be no provision for interpreting services.

A select number of papers are to be taken up in the conference proceedings that will be published in the MIDP colloquia series, Studies in Language Policy in South Africa, by Van Schaik Publishers, Pretoria (RSA).

LINGUA, the scientific unit for linguistic analyses within the Swiss Federal office for Migration, organizes a Workshop on 'Linguistic analyses within the asylum procedure' in Lausanne/Switzerland in July 2008.

Call for Papers

The academic world has, for a couple of years now, taken interest into the linguistic analyses carried out and used by different asylum authorities. In 2004, a group of linguists edited a set of Guidelines designed for all practitioners in this field. Its concern is to ensure and guarantee a sufficient quality level. Its focus lies particularly on the profile required by people who carry out such analyses.

The different units across Europe who carry out linguistic analyses within the asylum procedure have all different methods and requisites. Discussions among them and with the scientific world are therefore necessary in order to 1) explain the different procedures and frameworks that determine the units' working methods and 2) establish the criteria necessary from a scientific point of view to define the possibilities and the limits of such analyses since they can have important consequences on people's lives.

At the Workshop - which will take place on 23rd-24th July, immediately following the IAFPA conference - different European units carrying out linguistic analyses for the asylum authorities will be presenting themselves. Also, LINGUA would like to invite different external presentations by people who are, in some way or other, involved with this kind of forensic analysis. For this, a call for papers is being opened.

Abstracts on different topics related to linguistic analyses for the determination of origin (LADO) within the asylum procedure are welcome. Topics related to LADO are listed below and, for each topic, a series of exemplary questions to approach the topic is given:

- interviews done for LADO How should interviews be carried out in order to ensure sufficient data basis for a scientific report? What interview technique should be applied? Which interlocutors should be involved? What topics should be discussed? What influence does the presence of an interpreter have on the interview?

- forensic sciences What kind of research has been done since the editing of the Guidelines? What is currently being done on LADO? What developments are possible in this field? What other aspects of forensic linguistics could/should LADO bring into its daily work in order to increase its quality?

- editing of scientific reports How should a LADO report look like? What kind of answers can a LADO report furnish? What information is needed by the case officers/lawyers/courts in order to be able to reach a sound decision on an asylum case (e.g. minimal criteria, domains, linguistics analysis, country knowledge, result categories)?

- profile of the experts carrying out LADO Who has to carry out LADO? What competences are necessary to lead an interview/to write a report/to make a linguistic analysis/to evaluate the country knowledge/etc.? To what extent does an analyst need/want assistance? To what extent does the staff of the linguistic analyses units have to be involved?

- involvement of native speakers in the process What role can/should native speakers (not) play in LADO? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a native speaker vs. a linguist or of being a member of the community under analysis vs. an outsider.

- technical aspects How to ensure the best possible quality of recordings? What technical possibilities are at hand to ensure the analysts anonymity? How to transfer recordings to analysts all over the world? How to ensure protection of sensitive personal data on the recordings and the reports we deal with?

- setting LADO is carried out within a very specific setting, namely that of the asylum procedure. What role does this setting play on the whole LADO procedure? How much do the analysts need to know about the setting in order to do a thorough job? Should legal aspects be considered when writing a LADO report?

Presentation slots will be 20 minutes long + 10 minutes for questions. Longer slots for discussion will be planned during the workshop. Abstracts should have a maximal length of 250-300 words and should be submitted by email as an attachment (using Microsoft Word or, preferably, pdf) to Simonette Favaro at the following address: Simonette Favaro-Buschor

Abstracts should contain: Title of the presentation Name(s) of the author(s) Affiliation of the author(s) Both e-mail and postal addresses Any special audio-visual/IT requirements (OHPs, PowerPoint, video, DVD etc.)

Extention of the deadline for the submission of abstracts: May 30th, 2008 Notification of acceptance: end of May/beginning of June 2008